Jon Hendricks

Jazz is an art form that depends on its antecedents. There must be respect for the people that have gone before.

The Blues? It’s the mother of American music. That’s what is is – the source.

Don’t be a perfectionist… leave that to the classical musicians.

When you listen to someone improvise, the notes that are played are only half the story.

You gotta love livin’, baby, ’cause dyin’ is a pain in the ass.

I am famous because I am an African American jazz artist.

When I achieved what I thought the musicians were trying to do, the sound sort of bloomed. When it’s right, everything is beautiful.

If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry’.

The greatest moments of the human spirit may be deduced from the greatest moments in music.

You gotta mean it and you gotta treat it gentle.

Play the music not the instrument.

We might as well swing boys, because Stravinsky cuts us all.

Players are coming from other backgrounds: rock, folk, ethnic music. It’s changing Jazz for the better.

Every time I see a musician – it doesn’t matter what age – that inspires me, there’s always a secret little wish that maybe we’ll play together, because that’s how I learn and grow and so forth, you know. But hopefully there’s a lot more.

Play what you feel, feel what you play.

It’s always Jazz. You can put a new dress on her, a new hat, but no matter what kind of clothes she’s the same old broad.